Teachers stamp rave reviews on new high school building

Awesome, phenomenal, amazing, and just plain “Wow!”

Those are but a few of the descriptive words New Kent High School teachers and administrators employed as they scurried about the hallways, classrooms, gymnasiums, auditorium, media center, and food court inside the county’s new $50 million, 242,000 square foot high school.

The date: June 11, the last day of the school year. But teachers delayed departing for summer to spend a few hours touring the complex they will call home in September.

“I’m excited. I’m thrilled. I cannot believe it,” librarian Tracey McKinney exclaimed as she gazed about the new school’s media center.

Her enthusiasm bubbled over to choral teacher Sharon Whitman who danced about the 750-seat auditorium’s stage as well as her new classroom.

“They did everything I asked for,” she said as she explored her classroom. “It’s acoustically correct and we have light — we have windows.”

Built-in risers will help her students adjust to performing, she said, adding, “The students will be the ones to benefit from this. For the first time in eight years, I’m going to have a real choir room.”

Mont Linkenauger, a science teacher who also coaches track and football, stood in amazement just inside the doors of the cavernous 1,600-capacity gymnasium. Next door is a second gymnasium, dubbed the auxiliary gym, which is about the size of the old high school’s gym.

“This is awesome,” he said. “You can tell it’s built for expansion. We’re going to be rolling around like marbles in a shoebox for a while.”

Social studies teacher Patti Gulick, meanwhile, scribbled a diagram of her classroom on a sheet of paper and anxiously showed it to everyone she encountered.

“Have you seen my classroom?” she gushed. “Think of what we can do and what we can offer for students. This has such great possibilities.”

She and her husband, John, a math instructor, have been on staff at New Kent for the past 30 years. For both, this will be their second move to a new building.

“Our daughter will be in the first graduating class,” she said, smiling broadly.

Ronnie Cox, another veteran social studies teacher, said, “This building is going to fit our needs, and it shows good foresight.

“It will be a source of civic pride,” he said. “We’ll be excited about having activities here. I’m just proud of the county of New Kent for being willing to do it right.”

Howard Price has been a guidance counselor at New Kent for 34 years. High on his wish list has been installing a career center, and now his wish is coming true.

“An actual career center is something we’ve been wanting for many years,” he said, adding his new quarters will boast office space to accommodate four counselors.

“I think it’s amazing. This is truly a phenomenal building,” he said.

Principal Yvonne Jones admits she has already fallen in love with the new building.

“It’s roomy. There’s lots of space,” she said. “It’s got everything the teachers have asked for, and they are very pleased about what they see. It’s going to be a high-energy building.”

New Kent’s high school population stood at 870 students when the recent school year ended. Superintendent Roy Geiger said numbers are expected to be in the 900 range when doors to the new building open in September. The school, however, is built for 1,400.

“You’re going to have elbow room right from the start,” Geiger said.

Former School Board member Van McPherson, one of the driving forces behind the new school’s construction, served as guide for members of New Kent’s Educational Foundation who toured the complex after the teachers left.

McPherson pointed to “smart boards” or “whiteboards” in every classroom. Chalkboards are now a thing of the past. Classrooms also sport “smart lights” that are motion sensor-activated. Natural lighting, however, replaces artificial lighting in many areas of the complex.

Counting classrooms and labs together, teaching spaces total 128, McPherson said. A state-of-the-art geothermal heating and air-conditioning system could save the school system up to $15,000 per month in utility bills, he added.

“Everything is set up technologically to take us into the future,” he told his tour group. “We think this school will have a life of at least 70 years.”